14 Apr 2014 at 21:13 | Published by: Freebird | Views: 14636 | News search

Smith plays the final lane on his way to securing a 6 stroke victory  (Photo by Marion Homer (KMGC))

The worlds of minigolf and golf aligned on Sunday 13 April as both the Augusta Masters and British minigolf Masters saw a defending champion called Adam present the winner's jacket to the returning 2012 champion, collecting his second victory at the event in the process. Where as Augusta saw Adam Scott and Bubba Watson take centre stage with the iconic Green Jacket, it was Kent team mates Adam Kelly and Michael Smith who provided the final touches to the 2014 British Masters, held for the third time at Splash Point Mingolf Course in Worthing.

Michael Smith, from Oxford, received the legendary British Minigolf Association (BMGA) tweed jacket for the second time in his career from defending champion Adam Kelly after shooting a four-round total of nine under par. He also took the first prize and the British Masters trophy after beating a strong field of 30 players from across the UK.

Smith, a multiple winner on the BMGA tour and holding the top spot in the UK rankings for the past 2 seasons, once again confirmed his domestic dominance of the game after defeating John Moore, also a previous Masters winner, by six shots and a further three ahead of Worthing local Nuno Cuhna with defending champion Adam in fourth place.

Speaking after his victory, Michael said "I'm delighted to have won the 2014 British Masters. Splash Point is such a difficult course where every misjudgement is ruthlessly punished, so to win an event on this course and beat some fantastic players on the way is a brilliant feeling. A huge thank you to the course owners and everyone involved in running the event."

This years event saw the introduction of a new player category for players in their first season on the BMGA tour and local novice, Paul Preston took the Category 4 title in his debut on the minigolf tour, with Anthony Tetley second and Matt Dodd third.

Other prize winners on the day included Steve Lovell who picked up the Category 2 title with Mark Wood second and Martin Greenhead third. In the Category 3 section Emily Gottfried took the win with Adrian Amey second (missing out after a play off with Emily) and Ollie Greenhead third. Richard Gottfried (Cat 1 aces champion), Dave Gomm (cat 2 aces champ), Steve Ragless (cat 3 aces champ) and Jake Tetley (cat 4 aces) rounded off the prize winners for the 2014 event.

The prizes were given out by Councillor Bob Smytherman, Mayor of Worthing, attending the event for the second year running.

The event also saw the first Hole-In-One Charity challenge of the season take place between rounds 3 and 4. This was open to all (tournament competitors and the general public alike) and cost just £1 per entry. Half of the entry fees carry forward to the Players Championship charity fund (taking place in September, the day before the British Open) and the remainder were available to be won in the challenge. With 30 entrants on the day, each had 1 shot at the designated course hole (hole 4) with any players getting a hole-in-one sharing the prize pot. After another tense, exciting and very noisy challenge, no one managed to ace the hole and as such the prize pot will roll=over to the next event (the British Championships in May).

BMGA Chairman Sean Homer said “This was a great event and Michael once again showed why he is the UK number 1 player, leading the tournament from start to finish and picking up the tweed jacket for the second time in 3 years. I would like to thank all who took part, as well as Anthony for his hospitality, also to the trio of Marion Homer, Mark Wood and Martin Greenhead for their support in running the event and to the Mayor of Worthing Councillor Bob Smytherman for his support at the prize ceremony."

The next event on the BMGA tour is the BMGA British Championships at Strokes Adventure Golf in Margate across the weekend of 10/11 May

The British Minigolf Association (BMGA) is the governing body for Minigolf Sport, including Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf. Formed in 1998 the BMGA organises Minigolf competitions for its members across the UK.

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